Giovanni Perazzo

Cardinal Perazzo was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church during the mid-16th century. In December 1559, he was sent to France to help root out the rebellious Huguenots, and he deduced that the mark of the "dark riders" on their necks signified that they were radical Calvinist rebels. King Francis II of France, hoping to undermine the church's power in his kingdom, sent his half-brother Sebastian de Poitiers to brand Perazzo's male lover with the same sign, blackmailing Perazzo into retracting his claim about the mark's significance.